Apple WWDC 2011 Rumors Include iOS 5, OS X Lion, iPad 3

Apple will kick of its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) June 6 in San Francisco, where it's expected to discuss iOS 5 and OS X Lion and surprise with an iPad 3.

Apple has announced that its annual Worldwide
Developers Conference (WWDC) will be held June 6 through June 10 in San
Francisco, at the Moscone West convention center. At the five-day event,
Apple plans to unveil "the future of iOS and Mac OS," it said in a
March 28 statement.
It's
widely expected that Apple will share details about Mac OS X Lion, the
newest incarnation of the Apple operating system, which Apple CEO Steve
Jobs introduced in October 2010, along with the newest line of MacBook Air notebooks.
Apple is also expected to focus on iOS 5, the newest version of its
mobile OS. However, while Apple is expected to release an iPhone 5 this
summer, which presumably would ship with the new iOS, a new report says
iOS 5 will instead follow behind it, not becoming available until the
third quarter.

Citing two "solid sources," Tech Crunch reported March 26 that Apple's plan is "to wait to launch iOS 5 until
the fall," breaking its tradition of introducing new software in the
spring and launching it during the summer with new hardware.

Still another rumor, circulated in February, is that Apple is planning to surprise WWDC attendees with the introduction of an iPad 3.
What's
for certain, however, is that developers at WWDC 2011 can expect more
than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers; access to more
than 1,000 Apple engineers offering code-level assistance into "optimal
development techniques"; and to be a part of one giant opportunity to
mingle with fellow iPad, iPhone and Mac developers from around the
globe.
Apple will also present its Apple Design Awards to developers of outstanding iPad, iPhone and Mac applications.
"If
you are an iOS or Mac OS X software developer, this is the event that
you do not want to miss," Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president
of Worldwide Product Marketing, said in a March 28 statement.
Tickets are priced at $1,599 and seating for the event is limited, according to Apple.
On
Friday, March 25, Apple began shipping its iPad 2 to an additional 25
countries-a rollout pace quicker than it pursued for the original
iPad, despite analyst predictions that the recent catastrophic events in
Japan are likely to hurt component availability. (BlackBerry maker RIM,
for example, in its most recent earnings statement, explained that it
had offered a wider than normal guidance, due to the risk of disruption to its supply chain.)
Ticonderoga
Securities Analyst Brian White, in a March 28 research note, wrote that
he expects Apple to benefit in the June quarter from a healthy demand
for the iPad 2. So healthy, in fact, he's anxious for news of new
milestones.
"Last
year, Apple sold over 300,000 iPad 1 units on the first day, 1 million
were sold in 28 days; 2 million in less than 60 days and 3 million
within 80 days," wrote White. "Given the faster launch this year,
continued serial stock-outs, limited competition and the increased
legitimacy of the tablet category, we expect big iPad 2 numbers from
Apple, but when will the company begin to release these milestones?"
As with WWDC, the curious will have to wait and see.

Michelle Maisto has been covering the enterprise mobility space for a decade, beginning with Knowledge Management, Field Force Automation and eCRM, and most recently as the editor-in-chief of Mobile Enterprise magazine. She earned an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University, and in her spare time obsesses about food. Her first book, The Gastronomy of Marriage, if forthcoming from Random House in September 2009.